The Michigan Daily - Monday, April 20, 1998 - 15 Affectless 'Object' lets down A4niston By Prashant Tamaskar Daily Arts Nriter Capitalizing on what is becoming a popular motion picture trend, "The {.oject of My Affection" is Hollywood's glossy answer to "Chasing Amy," last year's highly praised indie phenomenon about a romance doomed by issues of sexual *eference. Although "Object" doesn't mea- sure up to its predecessor, the film, surprisingly enough, has a sincere emotional center. But a muddled screenplay and undisciplined direc- tion prevent the movie from really taking advantage of this strength. Jennifer Aniston stars as Nina Borowski, a Brooklyn social worker tuck in a passionless, utilitarian lationship with a grating lawyer Incomplete solutions place 'Health' below average Courtesy o fwentieth Century Fox Paul Rudd and Jennifer Aniston get a little too affectionate in "The Object of My Affection." The Object of My Affection At 8riarwood and Showcase who is about to (John Pankow). At a party thrown by her pretentious, name-dropping step - sister C onstance (Allison Janney) and her famous literary agent husband Sidney (Alan Alda), she meets George (Paul Rudd), a gay elementary school teacher be dumped by his Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet"), "The Object of My Affection" exhibits an unexpected sincerity on an emotional level. Although it is difficult to believe that Nina, with her charming personality and her beauty, would be so desperate that she would have to settle for Vince, the despair of her character is pre- sented effectively. As the antithesis of her superficial step-sister, all Nina wants is to find a special person, and then later in the film, to have that person help her raise her child. Aniston, through expressive body and facial languae, subtly reveals the pain that Nina feels when her desires cannot so easily be fulfilled. Moreover, Rudd, although a bit inconsistent, skillfully documents the inner turmoil that his character feels. He loves Nina very much, but her request is too much for him to take. She is asking him to compro- mise his lifestyle and his happiness, as they essentially become a couple. She also becomes dependent on him, which he is not ready for. Thus, the stage is set nicely for a gut-wrenching second half of the film. But this momentum fails to surmount to anything as director Nicholas lytner is unable to get a complete grasp of the material. While it is acceptable for the char- acters to be unsure of what they want to do, Hytner cannot figure out what he wants either. Does he want to make the film about the pain of unrequited love, of dissolving friendship, or of child rearing issues:? He settles for a combination of the three, which ends up being a lot more than the film can handle. The screenplay then takes the movie in various directions, swerv- ing back and forth from dilemma to dilemma. As this happens, the view- er loses track of what issues the characters are exactly struggling with, and the film heads into the aggravating world of self-impor- tance. This is augmented by a finale that is disappointing in its violation of the tone of the rest of the film. Sadly enough, had more attention been paid to the screenplay, many of these problems could have been avoided. "The Object of My Affection" is an interesting, but highly flawed work, that could have been a much better movie. The emotion is real, the central characters are well devel- oped, and the lead actors are excel- lent. Still, given that the idea for this movie cannot be considered innova- tive, particularly in light of "Chasing Amy," which set the prece- dent for the genre, these strengths are not enough to overcome the film's many weaknesses. Health Against Wealth George Anders Doubleday In "Health Against Wealth," George Anders, senior special writer for the Wall Street Journal and part of a team that won the Pulitzer Prize in 1996, closely examines the managed- health industry. Through a sweeping examination, he explores many oppos- ing facets of the health care field. The overwhelming focus of the work is on the weaknesses of the system, but at times this focus tends to ignore important facts and questions. A large portion of the work examines areas that have little to do with the quality of patient care that managed health care presently provides. The work first provides historical back- ground of the health care industry in order to add perspective to the book. Here, Anders paints a vivid picture of greed and corruption that sent annual health-care costs rising at astounding double digit rates during the 1980s. Anders cites an example of when Chrysler provided employees a generous4 allowance for psychiatric care and health. costs jumped 500 percent. He then continues with a brief look at the first appearance of managed care organizations. and different problems associated with their emer- gence. When the work finally begins examining the quality aspect of it, he solely takes a negative view of managed care. One of the principles of managed care is to turn primary care physicians into gatekeepers. They are meant to decide who should have access to specialists and more expensive procedures. Anders cen- ters upon the negative aspects of this role, rather than exploring both its positive and negative impacts equally. The work continues to examine different areas of patient care. It centers on heart problems, breast cancer, mental health, emergency care, mental health, geriatrics and the poor. Although this is a broad sampling of the health care industry, the analysis is still myopic. In each of these cases, Anders again centers solely upon the negative aspects, leaving many questions unan- swered. He never addresses how managed care compares Looking for some- I. £ thing to do this summer? Learn to Come write for Daily Arts during Start lessonsr the summer. Call have your pil 763-0379 or stop Make your dr by the Arts room come true wi for more information. Call 994.6208 t visit our website overall with the traditional system. He also doesn't address the frequency with which the prob- lems he mentions occur. Most importantly, he never states whether the HMOs he examines are representative of the industry on the whole. Without comparison, the reader has no way to tell whether his criticisms are justified or only nit-pick- ing. The remainder of the work examines the industry as a whole. In one fascinating analysis, Anders explains the politi- cal lobbying tactics of managed care. Though highly critical of its methods, Anders doesn't dif- ferentiate managed care from any other special interest group. In fact, this lack of perspective is representative of the main problem with "Health Against Wealth." Anders doesn't com- pare managed care with anything, and without the compari- son, there is no way to tell whether they are unscrupulous or not. The work continues with some criticisms of the gate- way system as well as the overall quality of managed care. In both areas, the analysis falls to problems similar to those found earlier in the work. What is impressive about "Health Against Wealth" is that it not only points to problems within the system but also provides some solutions, many of which are sound. Anders mentions many different ways by which doctors, regulators and con- sumers can improve the quality of their health care as individual groups. These solutions require some work, but seem within the grasp of the laziest member of a managed care group. Other solutions sound a bit too simplistic. Many require managed care directors, doctors and regulators to form policy decisions together. As the work points out, however, no two of the groups are able to get along and compromise very often. In fact, such ideas sound more like wishful thinking than sound advice. "Health Against Wealth" illuminates many different facets of managed care. An otherwise excellent investigation is ruined, however, by the author's preconceived ideas. The examples and analysis Anders offers are often incom- plete. He appears to be out to prove that managed care is a problem and, in that position, ignores data that might prove otherwise. - Mahesh Joshi live-in lover. Nina, the kind soul that she is, offers George the spare room in her apartment, which he accepts. The two forge a close friendship, hich is a bit unsettling to Nina's boyfriend, Vince. Of even greater significance is Nina's announcement to George that she is pregnant. She decides that she wants to raise the child with George, her best friend and the obvious love of her life, and not with Vince. Needless to say, this decision complicates mat- ters for everyone involved with Nina. *Powered by the excellent perfor- mances of Aniston and Rudd ("Clueless" and "William now and you could ot's license by fall! QS rearns of f/ight th the U-M Flyers. MICHIGANflyers o sign up for an introductory Discovery Flight, or at www.umich.edu/-umflyers for more information. AMre s the 00:y Na A U T .T L Guaranteed Textbook Buyback If you have books with the deal sticker on them, vrn" nrae11 thAm fl fnw. at. I